The Summit Bechtel Reserve, nestled in the heart of the New River Gorge area of southern West Virginia was home to 45,000 scouts and 20,000 day visitors from July 23 to August 01 as it hosted the 24th World Scout Jamboree (WSJ). The Summit, a national scout high adventure base, boasts over 14,000 acres of natural wonder to be explored and is famous for its world class Whitewater Rafting, Rock Climbing and Mountain Biking.
The Global Development Village (GDV) was an interactive space within the jamboree designed to raise awareness about global issues and build capacities among young people for creating a better world. Within the GDV national and international organisations from all sectors, were focused on offering exciting learning opportunities related to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). This event brought together a unique opportunity for #NatureForAll partners, a number of whom joined forces to host the #NatureForAll pavilion.
This is the setting where #NatureForAll partners brought focus to SDG 14, Life Below Water, and SDG 15, Life on Land, by coming together to offer programming that engaged and inspired scouts to experience and share their love of nature. Hosting Forests Days, Ocean Days, Parks Days and Wildlife Days across the two-week jamboree, youth engaged in workshops and campfire chats that harnessed the youth perspective on how to reduce barriers so that people in all regions contexts and realities are able to connect with nature.
Through programming, over 1600 scouts registered to become #NatureForAll Youth Champions, a brand new initiative that will build on well-established and new youth networks to amplify the youth voice for nature conservation.
Parks Day programming was an inspiring collaboration between Parks Canada and US National Parks Service. Drawing on the rich biodiversity at Summit Bechtel, PCA and USNPS co-hosted workshops for thousands of scouts, engaging in a bioblitz activity with the iNaturalist app where over 700 observations were made and over 400 species identified (and counting). During campfire chat workshops, the Parks team engaged youth in discussions about the significance of parks and protected areas and how to incorporate nature in everyday life. With over 600 #NatureForAll airbrush-tattoo-nature-selfies posted on social media, the Parks team had high engagement at the jamboree.
The #NatureForAll core value: through partnership we can amplify our collective reach, was realized through programmes delivered by co-hosts Canadian Wildlife Federation, IUCN CEC, PCI Media, Ocean Wise/Ocean Bridge, Sustainable Forestry Initiative/Project Learning Tree, Parks Canada & US National Park Service. These nine partners were #NatureForAll at the 24th World Scout Jamboree.
